Title based local search ranking

ABSTRACT

A method for performing a local search includes receiving a local search request that includes at least a search term and a geographic identification. Business listings matching the received local search request are identified. The business listings are then ranked based on at least a webscore associated with each listing. Each listing&#39;s webscore is based on the listing&#39;s web popularity. In this manner, local search listings are ranked and presented in a more accurate manner.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to document searching, and, moreparticularly, to systems and methods for enhancing local searchperformance.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

The World Wide Web (“web”) contains a vast amount of information.Locating a desired portion of the information, however, can bechallenging. This problem is compounded because the amount ofinformation on the web and the number of new users inexperienced at websearching are growing rapidly.

Search systems attempt to return hyperlinks to web pages in which a useris interested. Generally, search systems base their determination of theuser's interest on search terms (called a search query) entered by theuser. The goal of the search system is to provide links to high quality,relevant results (e.g., web pages) to the user based on the searchquery. Typically, the search system accomplishes this by matching theterms in the search query to a corpus of pre-stored web pages. Web pagesthat contain the user's search terms are “hits” and are returned to theuser as links.

Local search systems attempt to return relevant web pages and/orbusiness listings within a specific geographic area. Unfortunately,basing search results strictly upon geographic information may notprovide the most desirable search results.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect consistent with principles of the invention, amethod may include receiving a local search request including at least asearch term and a geographic identification; identifying businesslistings matching the received local search request; determining awebscore associated with each identified business listing; and rankingthe identified business listing based on the webscore associated witheach identified business listing.

According to a further aspect, a system may include means for receivinga local search request including a search term and a geographicidentification; means for identifying business listings matching thesearch term and an expanded geographic region including at least an areaidentified by the received geographic identification; means forcalculating a location prominence score for each identified businesslisting; means for ranking the identified business listings based on thelocation prominence scores; and means for presenting the ranked businesslistings to a user.

According to a yet another aspect, a method may include determining awebscore for each of a plurality of business listings, wherein thewebscore includes a number of web documents referencing a businesslisting title; receiving a local search request from a user via acomputer network; identifying business listings based on the localsearch request; ranking the identified business listings based on thewebscore for each listing; and presenting the ranked business listingsto the user over the computer network.

According to still another aspect, a computer-readable medium thatstores instructions executable by a client device is provided. Thecomputer-readable medium may include instructions for receiving a localsearch request from a user, wherein the local search request includes asearch term and a geographic identifier; instructions for identifyingbusiness listings based on the local search request; instructions forcalculating a location prominence score for each identified businesslisting, wherein the location prominence score is based on a webscorefor each identified business listing; instructions for ranking theidentified business listings based on the location prominence scores;and instructions for presenting the ranked business listings to theuser.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of theinvention and, together with the description, explain the invention. Inthe drawings,

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary information retrieval network inwhich systems and methods consistent with principles of the inventionmay be implemented;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary client or server of FIG. 1 accordingto an implementation consistent with principles of the invention;

FIG. 3 is flow chart of exemplary processing for performing a localsearch according to an implementation consistent with principles of theinvention;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of exemplary processing for determining awebscore for a business listing in accordance with principles of theinvention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of exemplary processing for generating webscoresfor redundant business listings in accordance with principles of theinvention; and

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of exemplary processing for performing a localsearch in accordance with principles of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description of the invention refers to theaccompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawingsmay identify the same or similar elements. Also, the following detaileddescription does not limit the invention.

Overview

Local searching may involve identifying business listings associatedwith a particular geographic area. Some geographic areas may include alarge number of business listings associated with a given query. Forexample, a search of “universities near New York” may result in a largenumber of listings. In addition, proximity-based search results may failto provide potentially relevant or important search results in aninitial result set, thereby adversely impacting the search's apparentsuccess.

Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention mayidentify matching business listings within a defined geographic regionand present the identified listings based, at least in part, uponwebscores associated with the listings. As described in additionaldetail below, each listing's webscore is calculated to reflect thelisting's popularity or importance within a larger data set, such as theInternet at large. In this manner, popular or important listings may beelevated above listings that have lower popularities.

Exemplary Network Configuration

FIG. 1 is an exemplary diagram of a network 100 in which systems andmethods consistent with principles of the invention may be implemented.Network 100 may include multiple clients 110 connected to multipleservers 120-140 via a network 150. Network 150 may include a local areanetwork (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a telephone network, such asthe Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), an intranet, the Internet,a memory device, another type of network, or a combination of networks.Two clients 110 and three servers 120-140 have been illustrated asconnected to network 150 for simplicity. In practice, there may be moreor fewer clients and servers. Also, in some instances, a client mayperform the functions of a server and a server may perform the functionsof a client.

Clients 110 may include client entities. An entity may be defined as adevice, such as a wireless telephone, a personal computer, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a lap top, or another type of computation orcommunication device, a thread or process running on one of thesedevices, and/or an object executable by one of these devices. Servers120-140 may include server entities that gather, process, search, and/ormaintain documents in a manner consistent with principles of theinvention. Clients 110 and servers 120-140 may connect to network 150via wired, wireless, and/or optical connections.

In an implementation consistent with principles of the invention, server120 may optionally include a local search system 125 usable by clients110. Server 120 may crawl documents (e.g., web pages) and storeinformation associated with these documents in a repository of crawleddocuments. Local search system 125 may facilitate searching of collectedor aggregated business listings in response to received search queriesfrom clients 110. Identified listings may be sorted, ranked andpresented in the manner set forth in detail below. Servers 130 and 140may store or maintain documents that may be crawled by server 120. Whileservers 120-140 are shown as separate entities, it may be possible forone or more of servers 120-140 to perform one or more of the functionsof another one or more of servers 120-140. For example, it may bepossible that two or more of servers 120-140 are implemented as a singleserver. It may also be possible that a single one of servers 120-140 isimplemented as multiple, possibly distributed, devices.

A “document,” as the term is used herein, is to be broadly interpretedto include any machine-readable and machine-storable work product. Adocument may include, for example, an e-mail, a web site, a businesslisting, a file, a combination of files, one or more files with embeddedlinks to other files, a news group posting, a blog, a web advertisement,etc. In the context of the Internet, a common document is a web page.Web pages often include textual information and may include embeddedinformation (such as meta information, images, hyperlinks, etc.) and/orembedded instructions (such as Javascript, etc.). A “link,” as the termis used herein, is to be broadly interpreted to include any referenceto/from a document from/to another document or another part of the samedocument.

Exemplary Client/Server Architecture

FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of a client or server entity (hereinaftercalled “client/server entity”), which may correspond to one or more ofclients 110 and/or servers 120-140, according to an implementationconsistent with the principles of the invention. The client/serverentity may include a bus 210, a processor 220, a main memory 230, a readonly memory (ROM) 240, a storage device 250, an input device 260, anoutput device 270, and a communication interface 280. Bus 210 mayinclude a path that permits communication among the elements of theclient/server entity.

Processor 220 may include a processor, microprocessor, or processinglogic that may interpret and execute instructions. Main memory 230 mayinclude a random access memory (RAM) or another type of dynamic storagedevice that may store information and instructions for execution byprocessor 220. ROM 240 may include a ROM device or another type ofstatic storage device that may store static information and instructionsfor use by processor 220. Storage device 250 may include a magneticand/or optical recording medium and its corresponding drive.

Input device 260 may include a mechanism that permits an operator toinput information to the client/server entity, such as a keyboard, amouse, a pen, voice recognition and/or biometric mechanisms, etc. Outputdevice 270 may include a mechanism that outputs information to theoperator, including a display, a printer, a speaker, etc. Communicationinterface 280 may include any transceiver-like mechanism that enablesthe client/server entity to communicate with other devices and/orsystems. For example, communication interface 280 may include mechanismsfor communicating with another device or system via a network, such asnetwork 150.

The client/server entity, consistent with the principles of theinvention, may perform certain operations, as will be described indetail below. The client/server entity may perform these operations inresponse to processor 220 executing software instructions contained in acomputer-readable medium, such as memory 230. A computer-readable mediummay be defined as a physical or logical memory device and/or carrierwave.

The software instructions may be read into memory 230 from anothercomputer-readable medium, such as data storage device 250, or fromanother device via communication interface 280. The softwareinstructions contained in memory 230 may cause processor 220 to performprocesses that will be described later. Alternatively, hardwiredcircuitry may be used in place of or in combination with softwareinstructions to implement processes consistent with the principles ofthe invention. Thus, implementations consistent with the principles ofthe invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardwarecircuitry and software.

Exemplary Local Search Processing

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of exemplary processing for performing a localsearch. Initially, processing may begin by receiving a local searchrequest from client device 110 at local search system 125 (block 300).In one implementation consistent with principles of the invention, thelocal search request may include one or more search terms and mayspecify a geographic area or address. In one implementation, thespecification of the geographic area or address may be explicitlyidentified in the search request. Alternatively, the specification ofthe geographic area or address may be implied based on a default searcharea, a displayed map, etc.

In response to the received local search request, business listingsmatching the received search terms may be identified within a broadgeographic area including the specified geographic region (block 310).For example, a search for “auto parts near Bethel Park, PA.” may resultin identification of business listings matching “auto parts” ingeographic regions proximate to, but other than Bethel Park, Pa. Oncematching business listings have been identified, a webscore may bedetermined for each listing (block 320). The web score may be determinedas described below with respect to FIG. 5. As will be set forth inadditional detail below, each listing's webscore is reflective of thelisting's popularity or importance.

Following webscore determination, the identified business listings areranked based on at least the identified webscores (block 330). Theranked listings are then presented to the user in a set of searchresults (block 340). By ranking identified business listings using atleast a webscore associated with each listing, popular listingsproximate to the received geographic area or address may be elevated inpresented search results, thereby improving search performance.

In additional implementation consistent with principles of theinvention, additional listing features may be applied to webscore orlocation prominence scores. For example, review scores or sources ofreviews associated with the listing may be used to increase or decreasea listing's location prominence score or web score. Alternatively,language included within a review for a listing may also be used toincrease or decrease a listing's location prominence score or web score.In yet another embodiment, financial information associated with thelisting may be incorporated into the listing's location prominence scoreor web score determination. For example, information regarding annualsales, employment base, longevity, etc. may be used to adjust alisting's location prominence score or web score. In this manner, localsearch results may provide the most relevant and helpful informationpossible.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary processing for determininga webscore for a business listing. Initially, the number of words orcharacters in the business listing's title are identified (block 410).Next, it is determined whether the number of words or characters in thelisting's title meet or exceed a predetermined threshold (block 420). Inone implementation, the predetermined threshold may be three words.Alternatively, a suitable threshold may be 10 characters. Suitablealternative thresholds may also be implemented, without departing fromthe scope and spirit of the present invention.

If it is determined whether the number of words or characters in thelisting's title meet or exceed a predetermined threshold, a documentsearch (e.g., Internet or other web search) may be performed using thelisting's title as search terms (block 430). For example, the repositoryof crawled documents stored at server 220 may be searched using thelisting's title as search terms. A number of matching documents returnedin the search may then be identified as a raw webscore for the businesslisting (block 440). For example, a business listing entitled “NAPA AutoParts” may meet the title length threshold. A subsequently conducteddocument search may result in 755,000 results. Consequently, the rawwebscore for the listing is set to 755,000.

For business listing titles having fewer than the required number ofwords or characters, a document search (e.g., Internet or other websearch) may be performed using a combination of the listing's title andcity as search terms (block 450). For example, a business listingentitled “Bill's Tavern” may include fewer than a required number ofwords or characters. In this instance, an Internet search may beperformed for “Bill's Tavern” AND “Bethel Park, PA.”. A number ofmatching documents returned in the search may then be identified as araw webscore for the business listing (block 460).

Once a raw webscore for the business listing has been identified, theraw webscore may be scaled for inclusion in an additional listingranking calculation (block 470). In one implementation consistent withprinciples of the invention, a final webscore may be log10(raw_webscore)*webscore_weight, where the webscore weight may reflecta relative importance of the webscore to overall business listingranking. In one embodiment, webscore_weight may be 0.2. It should beunderstood that the above scaling methodology is exemplary. Othersuitable methods for scaling may be similarly employed.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary processing for generatingwebscores for redundant business listings in accordance with principlesof the invention. The processing of FIG. 5 may be contemporaneouslyperformed along with the webscore generation processing described abovein FIGS. 3 and 4. Initially, processing may begin by receiving a localsearch request from client device 110 at local search system 125 (block500). In response to the received local search request, businesslistings matching the received search terms may be identified within abroad geographic area including the specified geographic region (block510). Next, it may be determined whether multiple listings having a samebusiness name are identified (block 520).

If multiple listings having a same business name are identified, a totalnumber of listings having the same business name may be identified(block 530). Next, a webscore for each listing may be determined themanner set forth above in FIG. 4 (block 540). An adjusted webscore maythen be determined based on the number of listings having the samebusiness name (block 540). In one implementation consistent withprinciples of the invention, the webscore for each business listing maybe 1/x of the raw webscore determined in block 540, where x is thenumber of business listings having the same business name. For example,for a given local search, McDonalds may have 10 listings within thebroad geographic area associated with the search. Each McDonalds listingmay have a webscore of 2,200,000. In accordance with the presentembodiment, this raw webscore for each listing may be reduced to2,200,000/10=220,000.

Following webscore adjustment, a single listing among the number ofbusiness listings having the same business name may be promoted abovethe other listings (block 550). In accordance with principles of theinvention, the promoted business listing may be identified by itsproximity to the originally received geographic area. Furthermore, thebusiness listing identified for promotion may receive a supplementedwebscore commensurate with the level of promotion. Other methods forpromoting business listings, such as using review data, sales numbers,etc. may also be used.

If no business listings having the same business name are identified,webscores for the identified business listings may be identified in themanner set forth above with respect to FIG. 4 (block 560). Followingadjusted webscore determination and potential promotion for eachidentified business listing, the identified business listings may beranked based on at least the identified and possibly adjusted webscores(block 570). The ranked listings may then be presented to the user in aset of search results (block 580).

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating alternative processing forperforming a local search in accordance with principles of theinvention. As described above, processing may begin by receiving a localsearch request from client 110 at local search system 125 (block 600).In response to the received local search request, business listingsmatching the received search terms may be identified within a broadgeographic area including specified geographic region (block 610). Next,for each identified business listing, a location prominence score may bedetermined (block 620).

In one implementation consistent with principles of the invention, thelocation prominence score may be a linear combination of severaldistinct factors including: a search ranking value for an authority pageassociated with the business listing; a highest search ranking value forany page referencing the listing address; the number of pagesreferencing the listing address; the number of scraped page references;the number of reviews for the listing; and the scaled webscore for thelisting (as described in detail above). The authority page for thelisting refers to the “best” web document identified in association tothe listing address. “Search ranking values” refer to web rankings orscores as identified by a search engine. One exemplary search rankingvalue may be “PageRank” from Google, Inc., although other suitableranking methodologies may be similarly employed. A “scraped page” refersto a business listing source, such as CitySearch, SuperPages, etc., withthe number of references in scraped pages reflecting the popularity oflistings associated with the listing address. By generating a locationprominence score for each listing, factors such as popularity, andrelative location may be incorporated into presented results.

Once a location prominence score has been determined for each businesslisting, the identified business listings may be ranked based on atleast the identified location prominence scores (block 630). The rankedlistings may then be presented to the user in a set of search results(block 640).

CONCLUSION

The foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the presentinvention provides illustration and description, but is not intended tobe exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed.Modifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention. Forexample, while series of acts have been described with regard to FIGS.3-6, the order of the acts may be modified in other implementationsconsistent with principles of the invention. Also, non-dependent actsmay be performed in parallel. Further, the acts may be modified in otherways.

It will also be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art thataspects of the invention, as described above, may be implemented in manydifferent forms of software, firmware, and hardware in theimplementations illustrated in the figures. The actual software code orspecialized control hardware used to implement aspects consistent withthe present invention is not limiting of the present invention. Thus,the operation and behavior of the aspects were described withoutreference to the specific software code—it being understood that one ofordinary skill in the art would be able to design software and controlhardware to implement the aspects based on the description herein.

No element, act, or instruction used in the description of the inventionshould be construed as critical or essential to the invention unlessexplicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the article “a” isintended to include one or more items. Where only one item is intended,the term “one” or similar language is used. Further, the phrase “basedon” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitlystated otherwise.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method performed by one or more processorsassociated with one or more server devices, the method comprising:receiving, at the one or more server devices, a local search requestthat includes one or more query terms and a geographic identification;identifying, by one or more processors associated with the one or moreserver devices, a local search listing based on the local searchrequest; identifying, by one or more processors associated with the oneor more server devices, a title associated with the identified localsearch listing; assigning, by by one or more processors associated withthe one or more server devices, a webscore for the identified localsearch listing, where the webscore is determined from a number of searchresults returned by querying a search engine with the title when a sizeof the title is greater than a threshold, and the webscore is determinedfrom the number of search results returned by querying the search enginewith the title and the geographic identification when the size of thetitle is less than the threshold; ranking, by one or more processorsassociated with the one or more server devices, the identified localsearch listing based on the assigned webscore; and providing, by the oneor more server devices, the ranked identified local search listing. 2.The method of claim 1, further comprising scaling the webscore for theidentified local search listing.
 3. The method of claim 1, where anumber of local search listings having the same title are identifiedbased on the local search request, further comprising: adjusting thewebscore for at least one of the number of local search listings basedon the number of local search listings having the same title.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, where adjusting the webscore for the at least one ofthe number of local search listings further comprises: dividing thenumber of search results by the number of local search listings havingthe same title.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjustingthe webscore based on one or more of the following: a search rankingvalue for an authority page associated with the identified local searchlisting; a highest search ranking value for any page referencing anaddress associated with the identified local search listing; a number ofpages referencing an address associated with the identified local searchlisting; a number of scraped page references of the identified localsearch listing; a number of reviews of the identified local searchlisting; or financial information for the identified local searchlisting.
 6. The method of claim 1, where the size of the title isdetermined from a number of words in the title.
 7. The method of claim1, where the size of the title is determined from a number of charactersin the title.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determiningthe webscore from the number of search results returned by querying thesearch engine with the title when the size of the title is equal to thethreshold.
 9. A method performed by one or more processors associatedwith one or more server devices, the method comprising: determining, bythe one or more processors associated with the one or more serverdevices, a webscore for each of a plurality of business listingsassociated with a location; receiving, by a communication interface oran input device associated with the one or more server devices, a localsearch request over a computer network; identifying, by the one or moreprocessors, business listings based on the local search request;ranking, by the one or more processors associated with the one or moreserver devices, the identified business listings based on the webscoresdetermined for the identified business listings; and providing, by thecommunication interface or an output device associated with the one ormore server devices, the ranked business listings over the computernetwork; where determining the webscore for any one of the plurality ofbusiness listings further comprises: identifying a business listingtitle; and determining a number of search results returned by querying asearch engine with the business listing title when a size of thebusiness listing title is greater than a threshold, and determining thenumber of search results returned by querying the search engine with thebusiness listing title and the location associated with the businesslisting when the size of the business listing title is less than thethreshold.
 10. The method of claim 9, where a number of the plurality ofbusiness listings have the same business listing title, the methodfurther comprising: adjusting the webscore for at least one of thenumber of business listings based on the number of business listingshaving the same business listing title.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherethe size of the business listing title is determined from a number ofwords in the business listing title.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherethe size of the business listing title is determined from a number ofcharacters in the business listing title.
 13. The method of claim 9,further comprising determining the webscore from the number of searchresults returned by querying the search engine with the title when thesize of the business listing title is equal to the threshold.
 14. Themethod of claim 9, where determining the webscore for each of theplurality of business listings further comprises adjusting the webscorefor each of the plurality of business listings based on one or more ofthe following: a search ranking value for an authority page associatedwith the business listing; a highest search ranking value for any pagereferencing an address associated with the business listing; a number ofpages referencing an address associated with the business listing; anumber of scraped page references of the business listing; a number ofreviews of the business listing; or financial information for thebusiness listing.
 15. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in acomputer-readable memory, comprising instructions operable to cause aprogrammable processor to: receive a local search request, where thelocal search request includes a search term and a geographic identifier;identify a business listing based on the local search request; identifya title associated with the identified business listing; determine awebscore for the identified business listing, where the webscore isdetermined from a number of search results returned by querying a searchengine with the title when a size of the title is greater than athreshold, and the webscore is determined from the number of searchresults returned by querying the search engine with the title and thegeographic identifier when the size of the title is not greater than thethreshold; rank the identified business listing based on the assignedwebscore; and provide the ranked identified business listing.
 16. Amethod performed by one or more processors associated with one or moreserver devices, the method comprising: receiving, at the one or moreserver devices, a local search request that includes one or more queryterms and a geographic identification; identifying, by one or moreprocessors associated with the one or more server devices, a localsearch listing based on the local search request; retrieving a webscorefor the local search listing, where the webscore is based on a number ofsearch results obtained by querying a search engine with a titleassociated the with local search listing when a size of the title isgreater than a threshold, and the webscore is based on the number ofsearch results obtained by querying the search engine with the title andthe geographic identification when the size of the title is less thanthe threshold; ranking the local search listing based on the retrievedwebscore; and providing the ranked local search listing.
 17. The methodof claim 16, where the webscore is further based on one of more of thefollowing: a search ranking value for an authority page associated withthe local search listing; a highest search ranking value for any pagereferencing an address of the local search listing; a number of pagesreferencing an address of the local search listing; a number of scrapedpage references; a number of reviews of the business listing; orfinancial information about the local search listing.
 18. The method ofclaim 16, where the size of the title is determined from a number ofwords in the title.
 19. The method of claim 16, where the size of thetitle is determined from a number of characters in the title.
 20. Themethod of claim 16, further comprising determining the webscore from thenumber of search results returned by querying the search engine with thetitle when the size of the title is equal to the threshold.
 21. A systemcomprising: at least one processor; and a memory that stores one or moreinstructions that when executed by the at least one processor, causesthe at least one processor to: receive a local search request thatincludes one or more query terms and a geographic identification;identify a local search listing based on the local search request;identify a title associated with the identified local search listing;assign a webscore for the identified local search listing, where thewebscore is determined from a number of search results returned byquerying a search engine with the title when a size of the title isgreater than a threshold, and the webscore is determined from the numberof search results returned by querying the the search engine with thetitle and the geographic identification when the size of the title isnot greater than the threshold; rank the identified local search listingbased on the webscore; and provide the ranked local identified searchlisting.
 22. A system comprising: at least one processor; and a memorythat stores one or more instructions that when executed by the at leastone processor, causes the at least one processor to: determine awebscore for each of a plurality of business listings associated with alocation; receive a local search request over a computer network;identify business listings based on the local search request; rank theidentified business listings based on the webscores determined for theidentified business listings; and provide the ranked business listingsover the computer network; where, when determining the webscore for anyone of the plurality of business listings, the at least one processor:identifies a business listing title; and determines a number of searchresults returned by querying a search engine with the business listingtitle when the business listing title is greater than a threshold, anddetermines the number of search results returned by querying the searchengine with the business listing title and the location associated withthe business listing when the business listing title is not greater thanthe threshold.
 23. A system comprising: at least one processor; and amemory that stores one or more instructions that when executed by the atleast one processor, causes the at least one processor to: receive alocal search request that includes one or more query terms and ageographic identification; identify a local search listing based on thelocal search request; retrieve a webscore for the local search listing,where the webscore is based on a number of search results obtained byquerying a search engine with a title associated with the local searchlisting when a size of the title is greater than a threshold, and thewebscore is based on the number of search results obtained by queryingthe search engine with the title and the geographic identification whenthe size of the title is not greater than the threshold; rank the localsearch listing based on the retrieved webscore; and provide the rankedlocal search listing.